


Bonding and Shenanigans

by Lady_Phenyx



Series: Fluffvember 2019 [29]
Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Cat Parent Joxaren | The Joxter, Don't copy to another site, Family Bonding, Gen, Good Parent Joxaren | The Joxter, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Snusmumriken | Snufkin Has Paws and a Tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:01:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21609481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Phenyx/pseuds/Lady_Phenyx
Summary: It's been a long time since any of them has seen the Joxter, until one spring when Snufkin returns with his father in tow and a story of just what's been keeping him from coming home.Soon after, a new park keeper starts making life difficult for the hemulen park keeper that watches over the woodies. And he's someone Joxter recognizes far too well from his travels.Time for some family bonding through the War on Park Keepers.Fluffvember Day 29: "I know that face." | "Somehow, I'm not surprised."
Series: Fluffvember 2019 [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533602
Comments: 6
Kudos: 127





	Bonding and Shenanigans

One could learn a lot about people when you were trapped living in a small area with them for long periods of time.

Like, say, a small boat with three other people.

Yet somehow, the Joxter managed to keep surprising Moomin.

The war with Park Keepers wasn't that much of a surprise – Moomin had seen the way Joxter watched the Orphanage Principal for the short time she was on the _Oshun Oxtra_ , and it made it clear Joxter didn't like her, and it was easy to guess it was the assumption of authority, the way she assumed she was in charge and began ordering them about, that he disliked. That she felt she knew better than all of them what was best for them without knowing them, and that she had some sort of right to tell them what to do and be obeyed.

So to find that it extended to nearly all authority – that they usually had a problem with Joxter and his lifestyle before he had a problem with them, but he had no problem returning the favor – well, mild surprise, maybe.

Finding out Joxter had fallen, and hard, for the Mymblemamma?

_That_ was a surprise. Moomin hadn't thought Joxter one to tie himself down, especially not to someone with that many children and responsibilities.

(Even if he thought, privately, that Mymblemamma might do a bit more parenting rather than let her children run feral as they did, but he wasn't a parent so what did he know? And even then Moomins, so far as he knew, only had three blood children at most, though it was hard to tell how many someone might end up accidentally adopting along the way.)

Still, she was joyful and loving so maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise. How quickly he'd fallen maybe, but then Joxter did have lots of hidden depths and, from what Moomin had found, lots of love to give but a great deal of hesitance in handing it out.

There was a story there, but there were quite a few stories that Joxter would go quiet about, turn away and refuse to continue, and they'd learned to wait. He would tell them when (if) he were ready.

Moomin wished he was surprised when he heard that Joxter had disappeared. Joxter was a vagabond, for all he'd seemed happy sleeping in Mymble's fruit trees, he'd been going on a trip and, well, who knew what might happen.

He just hoped it was Joxter's wandering feet that had him missing. It seemed the most likely – Joxter seemed the sort to always land on those same feet.

\---XXX---

Moominpappa _was_ surprised when Joxter reappeared, towed into Moomin Valley behind Snufkin, who didn't seem inclined to let his newly-found father out of his sight for long. Not yet.

Snufkin wasn't usually very forthcoming with stories of his winters. He'd tell stories, yes, but they weren't a detailed account of everything he'd done, just bits and pieces he remembered that he thought they'd find interesting.

This one though, he told as soon as they were ensconced in Moomin House. There were gaps in the story, lots of them, most of them on Joxter's end, but it explained where he'd been, what he'd been through (in general, not in details – they had a feeling it would take time before Joxter was ready to revisit details), why he hadn't come back.

Not that he hadn't tried. And tried hard.

It was a long story even with the gaps, and Moominmamma had to brew up several pots of tea before it was all over.

And, it seemed, because of how long had passed, even Joxter hadn't been sure about coming back, frightened of their (to him) inevitable rejections of him, for abandoning them for so long.

Joxter was refusing to look up, tail curled around himself and gaze firmly fixed into his tea. He started when Moominmamma moved, and she slowly slid her arms around him, letting him see her coming.

Moominpappa's arms slipped around them from the other side, with Snufkin and Moomin joining in the hug and Little My squeezing in from below.

And Joxter clung, feeling safe and _home_ for the first time in years.

\---XXX---

Joxter spent most of his time sleeping and watching – and being watched by – his children and their closest.

Understanding and forgiveness couldn't quite bridge all the years of separation, though they made building those bridges easier.

They were trying, they just...didn't understand each other yet.

None of the trio of Snufkin, Little My, or Mymble had had a father before. Well, Snufkin and Little My had Moominpappa, and he counted for more than they realized sometimes, but Moominpappa and Joxter were quite different.

But, well, they were trying.

Joxter and Mymblemamma were rebuilding as well, though it was almost easier than it was for him and the children. She'd expected him to leave sooner or later, and though finding out he'd intended to return and been prevented form doing so hurt, it also helped in its way, to smooth things over, the little stings of being left. They were both different than they were then, but not so different that things weren't easing into new, stronger love than before.

\---XXX---

Little My came barreling up the path, veering off it to speed towards Snufkin's tent.

She whipped the flaps open, peering inside.

She heard someone calling her name and rushed back outside to see Snufkin sitting on the stairs of the Moomin House veranda, with Joxter on the railing next to him and Moominpappa at the table, all three of them watching her with mixed concern and amusement.

Little My shot up the path and up onto the stairs.

“What's going on?” Snufkin asked.

“There's a new park keeper!” Little My declared. “He's ignoring the one you helped – you know, the nice one that's watching the woodies most of the time for you – and he's being nasty! He put up a bunch of signs again and he's trying to expand the park! Our keeper's trying to stop him but he's being really short with her, acting like she's just there to nanny the woodies instead of keeping the park.”

She had everyone's full attention now.

“What's this about 'our keeper'?” Joxter asked slowly.

“We put her in charge after Snufkin tased the old ones,” Little My declared. “Don't look at me like that, they were hattifatteners so it's just about the same thing.”

Joxter looked to Snufkin, who took a sip of his tea with careful nonchalance. “They were hattifattener seeds on midsummer's eve,” he said evenly. “They shocked the old keeper while we pulled up his signs and got the woodies out.”

“They adopted Snufkin!” Little My added with glee. “It was hilarious!”

Snufkin coughed, ignoring the faint flush he could feel coming onto his cheeks as his tail curled around himself with a little flick. “Well. I'm afraid Moomin and Snorkmaiden got blamed for it for awhile, but it was all straightened out in the end...”

“Snufkin's still upset over it,” Little My put in.

Snufkin's tail flicked again as Joxter eyed him speculatively. “Yes, well, they didn't do it. I couldn't let them be jailed for it. Either way, the Inspector and Keeper switched jobs, and she's been keeping it like a real park. One you can go and play in, without a bunch of signs. She took down most of the fences, too, just left low ones to let her know where to stop. And watching the woodies.”

“And now there's someone new putting up signs and trying to fence off the forest, ignoring her...” Joxter said slowly.

“Oh dear,” Moominpappa said. “I know that face.”

Joxter's tail flipped. “Well, we can't let him fence off the forest,” he said, beaming innocently. “Or drive a poor woman out of her job and make her life miserable. Not to mention my poor grandchildren of whom I'm only now just learning.”

“You'll help us?” Snufkin asked, twisting to look up at his father.

“Snufkin, I live for this,” Joxter said. “Not as much as I once did, I admit, but of course I'm going to help you. Moominpappa?”

Moominpappa sighed. “I'll stay behind. I can't hide in the dark like you can, and someone needs to know where you've gone in case you need bailed out of jail. Or broken out. With you, it's even odds.”

“I still have my tin opener,” Snufkin said with a small smile. “And I'm sure we'd think of something.”

Moominpappa rolled his eyes to the sky, holding up his paws. “Snufkin, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that in cases like these, I need plausible deniability,” he said.

The other three laughed as Moominpappa packed up his newspaper to head inside so he wouldn't overhear and could keep that sweet, sweet plausible deniability intact.

\---XXX---

The trio went in with their faces smeared with dirt and Little My in a borrowed smock, as her red one would draw attention. It was the same reason Joxter left his own hat behind.

“You know, the quickest way to find things out would be to go ask our keeper,” Snufkin pointed out.

The other two made near identical faces of dismay – sometimes Snufkin wondered if they were really sure Joxter wasn't somehow Little My's dad, despite his insistence that Mymblemamma was pregnant with her before they got together, not that it stopped him from _acting_ like her dad – but followed as Snufkin made his way to the (now much larger) cottage where their park keeper lived with the woodies.

She invited them in, and it took a bit of time for the woodies to calm down now that their papa and Auntie My were here, and had brought along Grandpa Joxter for them to meet.

Joxter and Snufkin each had a few woodies sitting on or clutching them as they sat down to talk with their park keeper.

Who was very eager to spill all the dirt on her new co-worker.

“It's so silly,” she said as she poured tea and passed cookies. “I've got things well under control here. Is it pruned? Is it manicured? No, it's not, but there's small children playing in it. They're not confined to a blo...a sandbox anymore. What good does a perfectly manicured park do anyone? Can't walk in it, can't run, can't enjoy it. I requested funds to put in a swing set and a slide, not a co-worker. With what he's spent on wood for signs we could have had a tree house, as well! And he gets so mad when the little dears run over the grass. Well, what else is grass for, I ask you? When it's kept short like that, means its perfect for games and running and rolling around on.”

There was more in that vein, as she'd been needing someone to vent to.

And she described to them every new sign, every new bit of fence, every single thing that had changed, the new keeper's exact routine that he hated to stray from.

Before dealing the final blow.

“He yelled at them yesterday, would you believe?” she said angrily. “Made Hazel, Acorn, and Oak cry, the poor dears. I'd like to do something terrible to him – or at least help someone else do something. And I'm sure the little ones would, too. They're very upset over that, aren't you, darlings?”

The woodies nodded, making sounds of agreement. “Wanna make him cry.”

“He's mean.”

“Make him go 'way, Papa? Granpa?”

“Oh, we're gonna,” Joxter said with a grin.

Little My squirmed up higher in her chair, standing on it. “Oh, now I know that face,” she said gleefully. “You two look exactly alike right now.”

Snufkin and Joxter glanced at each other, jumping a little, before smiling, tails waving in pleasure.

“Okay. Time to make a plan,” Snufkin said. “We can take any opportunities that we find while we're there, but we need a plan so we don't undo what the others have done.”

“Do you have anything to let us know what he looks like?” Joxter asked. “Just in case.”

Their keeper pointed to her window. “If you're careful, he goes for his nightly check of the park now, so he should be passing down into the park in a minute. You can see him from that window.”

The trio rushed to the window to watch.

Joxter began snarling softly as the keeper passed, his tail slowly bristling.

The woodies drew back, and Snufkin laid a paw on Joxter's forearm.

“Pappa? You're scaring the woodies.”

Joxter's snarl snapped off, though his tail remained bristled. “Sorry, little ones,” he said softly, turning to slide down the wall. “Snufkin – he's one of them. The ones that kept me from coming back.”

It took quite a bit of willpower for Snufkin not to snarl, though his tail also started to bristle.

The frightened woodies returned, now that they were sure Joxter wasn't upset with them or going to make the scary noise anymore.

“There were people that kept me from coming home until now,” Joxter told them gently. “The new keeper was one of them.”

“Now we'll really have to make him pay extra,” Little My said, rubbing her hands together. “Let's get to planning!”

One of the woodies smacked a fist into their open palm while the rest stared at their Papa and Grandpappa, waiting for the plan.

“Okay. Let's think,” Snufkin said. “I had more time last go to think about it.”

“Let's see what we've got,” Joxter suggested, and the suggestions began.

\---XXX---

The new park keeper hummed to himself as he made the rounds of what he was beginning to think of as his park.

His co-worker was getting on in years, it was a good thing he'd been sent out here. Why, she'd let the fences come down almost completely, and letting those children run rampant over the entire park...it was unsightly and untidy!

Discipline, that's what this park needed. One could keep a park as tidy as a parlor if one only had discipline.

And there were some fine old trees in the forest here, they just needed a little pruning to be a pleasing shape and things would be better, and the head office would be so pleased with him, they'd surely put him in charge for good!

Sure, there was that rumor about some mumrik and how he'd ousted the park keeper before his co-worked, but really. One mumrik? One just needed to know how to deal with them. A Firm Hand, that was the key.

The park keeper continued his round, making mental notes of where a branch was out of symmetry or a flower growing where t shouldn't.

The park keeper found himself caught up in dreams of glory and so it took him a minute to realize something was off.

Something was giggling and rustling in the bushes. The park keeper stormed over towards them. He'd already had to raise his voice at those hellions the other keeper was raising, was he going to have to do so a second time?

A tiny creature popped out of the bush and hovered in front of the park keeper's face. It looked as though someone had taken a small, pastel pom-pom and added huge, green eyes to it, eyes with no white or visible pupil, four pipe cleaner legs, and four transparent wings.

Except it was living, as it blinked at the park keeper, hovering in midair.

“What...get out of here!” the park keeper snapped. “The park is closed, and no pests are allowed at any time!”

The little creature blinked at him innocently, and he scoffed, flapping his paws to try and drive it off.

On the other side of the park, Joxter was carefully opening the tool shed. It wasn't as much fun as it sometimes was, as the proper keeper had loaned them her keys, but it was more efficient.

And the big “Keep Out” sign on the door made up for it.

One of the woodies tugged at his smock, pointing at the sign when Joxter paused.

He grinned down at his small grandchild. “Never could resist a Keep Out sign,” Joxter said, grinning. “Got me into trouble before, but it's worth it. Ask your papa later, we've got some good stories.”

“You're sure you can get rid of that parasprite thing later?” Little My asked Snufkin as they waited.

“Oh, yeah. They're a pain unless you know how, then it's just a matter of luring them away. I'm not going to leave things a mess for ours,” he said. Joxter passed him a small shovel, and he grinned down at Little My. “Besides, we're just making a few renovations. They're just there to keep him from ruining the surprise. Right?”

Little My grinned back, highly pleased.

\---XXX---

Joxter was, by nature, a lazy creature.

Unless, it seemed, mischief and continuing his war with park keepers were involved, in which case, none of their friends might have recognized him now as they rushed through the park.

This was the same park that Snufkin had once planted hattifatteners in, so though most of them had moved on, eventually a small pocket of them were found huddling in one of the farthest corners of the park, where the regular park keeper left them in peace and the new one hadn't found them yet.

The new park keeper's uniform was covered in shiny, polished metal.

And while Snufkin hated re-using a prank, well, some people deserved to be on the wrong end of a hattifattener.

From the other side of the park, they heard the yelling begin.

“Sounds like the parasprite started multiplying,” Snufkin said with a good deal of satisfaction.

Joxter grinned back at him. “Time to ruin someone's night.”

\---XXX---

Joxter, Snufkin, and Little My were filthy and smelling of smoke, lined up in front of the Moomin House veranda.

Moominpappa, Moominmamma, and Moomin stared back at them. All three were grinning, vaguely smug, and unrepentant.

There was a thin plume of smoke rising from somewhere off in the forest, there were new rips in all three smocks, and now...

“Why do you need a...a...” Moominpappa tried.

“A banjo, trombone, and maracas,” Joxter supplied. “We could use an accordion, too. And a pair of cymbals wouldn't go amiss.”

“Snufkin, why...?” Moomin asked.

“Cleanup,” Snufkin shrugged. “And a few loose ends.”

“...somehow I'm even more confused,” Moomin admitted.

“I know that face,” Moominpappa said once again. “I don't think we want to know. I'll go see what we've got in the everything room.”

“Thank you!” the trio chirped in unison.

Moominpappa shuddered and headed up the stairs.

He was glad his friend was back and reunited with all of them, really he was.

But he hadn't counted on just how terrifying it would be once Joxter, Snufkin, and Little My combined for a single goal. They were bringing out the chaos in each other, and Moominpappa considered himself lucky he was part of their family, so he wasn't in the line of fire.

...Moominpappa still would have loved to see the park keeper's face when it all went down, though.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second time in this series I've mentioned parasprites - if anyone's curious to know more about them, they're from My Little Pony, the episode _Swarm of the Century_. Think tribbles, but small and pastel. :)


End file.
